While the great Elon Musk Twitter buyout of 2022 only concluded a month ago, several sources have reported that the amount of hate speech and misinformation spread throughout the platform has risen significantly. Users, activists, and civil rights leaders have all expressed their concerns, and although they continue to make their voices heard, recent news of Musk lifting suspensions on banned accounts makes the fear for the future of the social media site even greater.
According to NPR, Musk said that he would be granting “amnesty” for suspended accounts, and online safety experts predict that this will only reignite the worst of Twitter’s former users. The declaration was made after results came in from a Poll conducted on Musk’s own account. He asked his followers to vote on whether or not reinstatements should be issued to accounts that have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” The poll concluded a vote of 72% for “yes.”
“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk eerily tweeted using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”
Musk used the same phrase after a poll he conducted last weekend asking users whether or not he should reinstate the account of disgraced former president Donald Trump. Trump’s access to the platform was revoked in a permanent suspension that took place in January 2021. While the conclusion of this poll also resulted in the affirmative, Trump says that he has “no interest” in returning to Twitter. However, he has yet to delete his profile.
In addition, most users are pointing a finger at Musk for reinstating the Twitter account of Kanye West, however, the billionaire confirmed in late October that Ye’s account suspension was lifted a day before he took over the company. According to Forbes, West and Trump aren’t the only controversial users potentially making a comeback. Former Trump advisor Roger Stone attempted to make a return right before Musk’s takeover, but was quickly re-banned. He was originally suspended for attacking journalists online in 2017. The source reports that we may also see the return of rapper Azealia Banks who was once banned for her transphobic tweets in 2020.
On October 28th, the day after Musk gained control over the platform, he issued a statement declaring that before any banned accounts would be reinstated, he would put together a “content moderation council” of “diverse viewpoints” that would consider each account on a case by case basis. He quickly reneged on this promise however after admitting that he only agreed to do so at the insistence of a group of political and social activists groups who Musk says broke the terms of their agreement by calling on advertisers to stop giving Twitter their business.